Jamie Redknapp has told football to 'be very careful' about challenging Newcastle's new Saudi Arabia owners due to the UK's relations with the Gulf nation before stating that football fans do not care who runs their club.
Newcastle will celebrate their first match after a Saudi-led consortium completed a £305million takeover of the club earlier this month when Tottenham visit what is likely to be a raucous St James' Park on Sunday afternoon.
The deal, which sees Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) own 80 per cent of the club with fellow stakeholder Amanda Staveley as a director has been deemed controversial due to Saudi Arabia's poor human rights record, particularly those to LGBTQ+ rights.
Sky Sports pundit Redknapp recognised those concerns but claimed that most football fans do not care who owns their club and that supporters have 'short memories' as time goes on.
'I understand the human rights problems, it stares you in the face,' Redknapp told Sky Sports on Sunday. 'But we have to be very careful not to be too hypocritical, because as a country, we have a lot of deals with the Saudis.
Jamie Redknapp has told football to 'be very careful' about criticising Newcastle's new owners
Newcastle fans will celebrate the first match after the £305m Saudi-led takeover was completed on Sunday against Tottenham
'We run very close to the bone by doing that, so to say to a club that you then can’t have investors just doesn’t sit correctly with me. (Newcastle fans) will be well aware, but the truth is, I’m not sure football fans, the majority, really care who owns their club.
'I think if we're going to go into the business dealings of a lot of the Premier League owners, we might not even have a league. You have to be very careful. Newcastle fans, right now, they’re so excited, they are beyond excited. Of course time will pass, we’ve all got short memories in football.
'There will soon be another story. But right now the (new) Newcastle owners are delighting this city.'
As well as Staveley, PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will act as the non-executive chairman of the Magpies, alongside the Reuben brothers who also have a stake in the club.
Redknapp claims that most football fans actually do not care who runs their club nowadays
PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan (above) will act as the non-executive chairman of the Magpies
Saudi Arabia's influence on the sporting world has been growing in the past few years, after it watched neighbours Qatar win the
